Juuso Riksman (born April 1, 1977 in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, Finland) is a retired

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

goaltender. Riksman played junior hockey in Espoon Palloseura and in the

HIFK HIFK, the Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna, Helsingfors (IFK, Helsingfors) rf (officially abbreviated IFK Helsingfors, colloquially often Helsingfors IFK or Helsingin IFK ) is a multi-sport association based in Helsinki, Finland. Formed in 1897 on ...

organization, but he started his pro career with Hermes of

Kokkola Kokkola (; sv, Karleby, ) is a cities of Finland, town and municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. The town is located in the Central Ostrobothnia regions of Finland, region. The town has a population of () and covers an area of of ...

, then in the 1st division. After a visit to

Kiruna (; se, Giron ; fi, Kiiruna ) is the northernmost Stad (Sweden), city in Sweden, situated in the province of Lapland, Sweden, Lapland. It had 17,002 inhabitants in 2016 and is the seat of Kiruna Municipality (population: 23,167 in 2016) in Norr ...

in the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

1st division, Riksman returned to HIFK. When

Tom Draper Thomas Edward Draper (born November 20, 1966) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. He was chosen in the eighth round, 165th overall, the 8th pick of the Winnipeg Jets in the 1985 NHL Entry Draft. Playing career Draper was bo ...

was hired as HIFK's starting goaltender, Riksman signed with

MoDo Hockey Modo Hockey (or MoDo with uppercase letters) is a professional ice hockey club in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. The team plays in Sweden's second-tier league HockeyAllsvenskan. The club was founded in 1987 and has won one SHL championships; in 2007. ...

in Sweden, and after two seasons in Sweden, a year in Italy with Alleghe HC and one season with

Ilves Ilves (; Finnish for " Lynx") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Tampere Deck Arena. The colors of Ilves, green, yellow, and black, were taken from what was then the coat of arms of the city ...

, he led

Ässät Ässät or Ässä may refer to: * HC Ässät Pori Oy, Finnish sports club ** Porin Ässät (men's ice hockey) ** Porin Ässät (women's ice hockey) ** Porin Ässät (men's football) ** PATA (esports) *, Finnish band from Oulu *S Group, Finnish Con ...

to a silver medal in 2006 and won the

Urpo Ylönen trophy The Urpo Ylönen trophy is an ice hockey award given by the Finnish Liiga to the best goalie of the season. It is named for Urpo Ylönen, former goaltender and later goaltender coach. In 2019 it was awarded to Veini Vehviläinen of Kärpät. Troph ...

as the league's best goaltender. Subsequently, Riksman was signed by

Jokerit Helsingin Jokerit (English: Jokers or Jesters) are a professional ice hockey team based in Helsinki, Finland. The team won six league championships as a member of the Finnish SM-liiga (1973, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997, and 2002). Jokerit plays its ...

to a two-year contract. He retired in 2016.

Suspension

In June 2007, the

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the ...

of the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

signed Riksman to a contract. He was later sent to the Blues' AHL affiliate, the

Peoria Rivermen Peoria Rivermen is the name of four minor league hockey clubs: *Peoria Rivermen (IHL), named as such 1984–1996, formerly the Peoria Prancers 1982–1984 *Peoria Rivermen (ECHL), 1996–2005 *Peoria Rivermen (AHL), 2005–2013 *Peoria Rivermen (SP ...

. Riksman appeared in his first and only professional game in North America on November 10 against the

Rockford IceHogs The Rockford IceHogs are a professional ice hockey team based in Rockford, Illinois. They are members of the American Hockey League (AHL), having begun play in the League starting in the 2007–08 season. The team plays their home games at the ...

, allowing two goals in only eight minutes of play. He was then pulled and replaced by

Marek Schwarz Marek Schwarz (born April 1, 1986) is a Czech professional ice hockey goaltender currently playing for the HC Sparta Prague. Playing career As a youth, Schwarz played in the 2000 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a team from ...

. After Peoria's loss to San Antonio on November 17, Riksman announced that he had quit the team and was returning to Finland, leading to a suspension by Rivermen general manager Kevin McDonald. Since the announcement, Riksman signed first with Färjestad in Swedish Elite League, then

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl Hockey Club Lokomotiv (russian: ХК Локомотив, en, Locomotive HC), also known as Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, is a Russian professional ice hockey team, based in the city of Yaroslavl, playing in the top level Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) ...

in the

Russian Super League Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

before returning to Finland, and

Awards

* SM-liiga silver medal with Ässät in 2006 *

for best goaltender in the SM-liiga in 2006 and 2009 * SM-liiga silver medal with

in 2007 *

Kultainen kypärä Kultainen kypärä ("the Golden Helmet") is an ice hockey award given to the best player in the Finnish Liiga. It is voted for by the players. It has been awarded since 1987. In addition, a long running tradition by Veikkaus is for the current best ...

-award for best player in the SM-liiga, 2009 * SM-liiga gold medal with

in 2011

External links

Hockeydb.com

Jatkoaika.com (in Finnish)

St. Louis Blues press release
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riksman, Juuso 1977 births Ässät players Espoo Blues players Färjestad BK players Finnish ice hockey goaltenders HIFK (ice hockey) players Ilves players Jokerit players Living people Modo Hockey players Peoria Rivermen (AHL) players Ice hockey people from Helsinki